1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal, and more particularly to a terminal mounted in an electrical connector for signal transmission. The terminal has a resilient contacting arm for excellent electrically contacting and mechanically clamping functions without material fatigue after repeated plugging and pulling actions of the electrical connector. Furthermore, the terminal is manufactured easily such that the manufacturing cost is lowered.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical connectors are common components of electrical devices and are used to electrically connect different electrical devices such that signal transmission or power supply between the electrical devices is implemented through the electrical connectors.
Taiwan utility model patent No. M415441 discloses an improved terminal mounted in an electrical connector on one end of a signal cable. The electrical connector may be engaged with a corresponding connector fabricated on a motherboard of an electrical device. The terminal has a base, a tail, two conducting portions, two contacting portions and two clamping portions. The tail protrudes from a rear end of the base. The conducting portions protrude from a front end of the base. The contacting portions protrude inward respectively from the conducting portions and extend forward. Each clamping portion extends from one of two sides of a corresponding conducting portion to the other side. Thus, the terminal is able to provide conducting and resiliently clamping effects.
However, the contacting portions of the aforementioned terminal are thin and elongated such that contacting and positioning functions thereof are not ideal. When the electrical connector on which the terminal is mounted suffers repeated plugging and pulling operations, the contacting portions of the terminal are fatigued and become too loose to maintain their original positions. Thus, the terminal cannot provide sufficient contacting force and results in contacting failure. Furthermore, the clamping portions of the terminal are hollow and U-shaped to decrease the clamping ability. The clamping portions are also too structurally complicated to manufacture. Therefore, the terminal has high manufacturing cost and low production yield rate.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a terminal for an electrical connector to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.